Lost in the future
by Naria Prime
Summary: Taking over a SpaceBridge from the Cons? Great! Getting lost in time? Not so great... (OC-centric, part one of my SpaceBridge-Troubles series, one of my dystopian AUs)
1. Prologue

Hi!  
My (actual) first fanfiction in english!  
I'm no native speaker, so please forgive me if there are any glaring mistakes...

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We had taken over a Space Bridge from the 'Cons. That in for itself was a good thing, and there was no denying that. It was even connected to their best hidden base.

Simply too good to be true. Nonetheless, I volunteered to try it out. And since Optimus had promised me that he would let me go on a mission of my choosing...

So, here we were. He seemed understandably reluctant to let me go, but he would hold his promise. "Don't worry.", I said. "I'll come back. And if something goes wrong, I can watch out for myself. It'll be alright."

Even if he didn't know, I would never break a promise once given to him. I would return, so he really didn't need to worry.

"Three, two, one, go!", came the countdown and I heard the characteristic noise of the Space Bridge powering up. It sounded intense, like, really intense, but I didn't worry.

I threw my arms around Optimus for a quick hug before I turned around. Cycling my vents, I took a step forward into the swirling blue-green vortex. The last thing I was aware of was a strange sensation of something pulling or tugging at me, to many different sides.

Then, everything went white.


	2. What the pit happened?

When I came to my senses again, booting up, I found myself lying in the small space between two buildings. But these buildings were, compared to the ones I knew from earth, gigantic. They were actually about Cybertronian-sized!

Only then I got aware of all the noise. Bits and pieces of conversations, footsteps, the noise of multiple engines, … It took about a human minute for my still a little foggy processor to understand what had been said. And then, it stalled again.

These sounds were unmistakably Cybertronian! Needing to be completely sure, I ran a passive Scan on my surroundings. It came back positive. Many, many Cybertronians were here, all around me. The only problem: Even though everyone seemed to be walking around freely, the signals told me that it was a mixed group, and that there were so many more Cons than Bots.

Curiously, but at the same time extremely cautious, I peeked out of my hiding space. And nearly came face to face with an unknown Autobot. He didn't seem to notice me though, his optics firmly trained on the ground. What shocked me the most wasn't the way he held himself, but the collar around his neck and the fact that he didn't seem to mind. What had happened here?!

As my optics roamed over the crowd, it quickly got easier to single out the other Autobots in sight. I personally knew none of them, but they were easily detectable. Blue optics trained on the ground, submissive behavior, collars, sometimes even leashes. Treated like pets or slaves and... used to it.

I cycled my vents in a heavy sigh. Here, I could not appear as an Autobot, since I was way too rebellious to even consider bowing to anyone.  
Time for a little change. Now I was really glad that I always carried some pranking supplies with me in my subspace. Among these supplies was actually some (quite much) black paint and a red visor from when I impersonated a Con in a prank. And some violet paint for the symbol.

Within mere breems, my normal Autobot self was replaced by a Decepticon femme named 'Shadow'. Yes, very creative of me, but believe me, I had different worries right now.

Taking up an indifferent facade, I went out onto the main street, into the masses. Behind that facade, my temper was boiling up more and more. The more I saw, the angrier I got.

But the most important thing I realized: I actually was on Cybertron! This single fact told me where I had to go first. To the archives, to do some research on what happened here.

I was about halfway there when I finally heard a familiar voice. Someone sang, and I knew that someone, though I could not immediately place him. Curious, I turned to the building from which that voice came. A club.

Peeking through the door, I saw the singer (and dancer) standing on the stage. He looked a little different now, but I immediately recognized him. It was Jazz.

Decision made, I snuck around the dance floor, all the way to the backstage door. There I could talk to him relatively undisturbed.

I waited behind the door, but when he entered, he was not alone. "Frag!", I cursed soundlessly, slipping through another door into an unlit room. Kliks passed, the voices finally fading, as were the steps.

Finally, I felt secure enough to leave the room and search for Jazz. In the hallway, there was no one in sight, but I was cautious nonetheless. After all, it was important that I didn't get caught.

Some breems of fruitless search later (this backstage area was a labyrinth) I found a small room that had the name-tag 'Jazz' on it. And I heard someone trilling tone ladders inside. Definitely Jazz.

I didn't knock, but stayed close to the door. Now I only had to find a way to let him know it was me, and not some Con. Finally, I settled on a song from earth I had once heard him singing. Through that song, I had figured out that he'd been a professional singer once. And the text was incredibly fitting! It was a song about a (human) femme lost in time...

" _Sing me a song of a lass that is gone,_

 _Say, could that lass be I?_

 _Merry in soul she sailed on a day,_

 _Over the sea to Skye.._."

At first, I sung quietly, but soon dialed up the volume. I didn't get further than the fourth line though, because he whirled around, asking me angrily: "From where do you know that song?" (*)

No one that had been on earth could be as young as me right now, so he was right in asking. Smiling, I took down my visor and set my voice specs back to normal. "A friend, who once was a professional singer, taught me long ago. I lost contact with him and my family awhile ago, maybe you can help?", I said, still smiling.

The surprised, disbelieving, confused look he had on his faceplates at that point nearly made me laugh, but I managed to stay calm.

"Naria?", he asked, a hopeful, but still weary tone in his voice. "Is that really you?" As I just nodded at that, he continued: "We believed you to be dead! And why are you still that young? You should be more than double your apparent age by now!"

Now, it was my turn to be incredulous. "What do you mean by 'double'? How long was I gone?" Somehow, I dreaded the answer. It came regardless.  
"It's been about 20 eons now since you went into that Space Bridge and never returned.", Jazz told me.

"So that was what happened.", I mused, and then looked at Jazz again. "Can you tell me where I can find Optimus?" I didn't even want to think about the possibility of him not being alive anymore.

"He's still alive.", Jazz said, as if he'd been reading my processor. "But he's in Megatrons Palace. Not a good idea to go there, at least not yet."

"I will go.", I answered. "Megatron has probably gotten overconfident, since he doesn't know that I'm still alive."

"He probably does." I looked at Jazz, confused, and he explained: "It was Megatron who first faked your capture and then your death. That was what led to their victory."

"Nah, he forgot by now, I think, or he believes me to have died otherwise." For a little moment, I was lost in thought, and then added: "Would you do me a little favor?"

"What do you mean?", Jazz asked.

"Is there any way you could inform other Autobots that I'm still alive, without alerting the Cons to it? And tell them to contact me over Comm.-Link? I still have my old number."

"I'll try. But I can't guarantee anything."

"You don't have to." I smiled. Then I pinged his Comm. :: _You still have your old number, too, don't you?_ :: Bit by bit I secured the line, until it wasn't detectable or intercept-able anymore, just in time to hear his answer.

:: _Yeah, I do. Good luck, 'Ria._ ::

:: _Thanks._ ::, I sent back. :: _But I need to go now. When I'm successful, I'll contact you again._ :: With that, I turned around and opened the door, exiting the room with a little wave back in his direction.

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(*) I can't write Jazz' accent for the life of me... Just imagine it.  
Any help would be welcome...


	3. Listening in

It wasn't difficult for me to exit the backstage area again. There seemed to be close to no surveillance. Well, lucky me.

Once I was in the public area of the club again, I lost some of the tension I'd had while being backstage. Here, I was just one more Con in a large group, unnoticed beyond what was normal on a party. The anonymity of being part of the masses. Useful, at least.

Making my way around the partying and dancing Cons and Neutrals, I kept an Optic out for familiar faceplates, but found no one, not even one of the Cons I knew. And, most importantly, no Autobots, familiar or unfamiliar. Not a single blue optic'd mech or femme around. Disappointing, but also not unexpected.

Now that I had someplace to go, and some information, the confusion I'd felt earlier had vanished near completely. Instead, there was a determinedness, or at least something resembling it. Brushing my way past quite a few inebriated mechs, I was able to exit the club only kliks later, without attracting unwanted attention.

I joined the masses on the streets, appearing to everyone as if I knew my way around, but honestly, I had no idea. And that was when I got the idea to listen in on a few conversations first, to see if I could get some more information out of it. After all, the last thing I needed was to be unprepared to whatever I'd see or hear. Better get over the (unpleasant) surprises now, than when I needed to be able to concentrate...

It took a while, however, until I managed to find a conversation I could get something worthwhile from. Two mechs, Neutrals as far as I could see, quietly discussing the slave markets and slavery in general. Once I got over the anger at their opinion – they actually liked the idea of having slaves around – it was interesting, to say the least.

"... and once their prices go under 10.000, you can't expect anything anyways. The good ones are way too expensive, but under that limit..."

"You sure? That's still way above the sort of opportunity purchase I could afford. Or you, for that matter..."

"Dreaming can't do any harm now, can it? Though I'm curious as to what profit the real high-end slaves would bring a merchant."

"Are you completely crazy? You're talking about the sort of slaves Lord Megatron and his officers posses! Like that Jazz and Prowl Soundwave has, or those twins that are property of the Winglords trine..."

THAT was some useful information! So... that meant, the club probably belonged to Soundwave. I'd been lucky to escape! And Sunny and Sides (since I knew of no other pair of Autobot twins) were with 'Screamer and his trine. Could have been worse, really. They were tough. Though I really wondered whether Megatron gave 'Screamer this title or whether he simply claimed it for himself. After all, they weren't on the best of terms, as far as I knew...

Mere kliks later, I was shaken rather roughly out of my thoughts, the mechs I followed through the crowd stopping in front of a shop, causing me to nearly walk into them. Luckily, I managed to stop just in time.

But not soon enough for them not to notice me...

"Hey, watch where you're going!", one of them said, while the other muttered: "Con younglings... as if they owned the planet..."

I just glowered at them trough the visor, the expression coming rather naturally to me, especially with how much disgust I was currently feeling towards them.

Shaking my head, I continued walking, only to stop after just a few steps. The crowd around me moved on, but I waited for these two. After all, they probably weren't finished talking about it yet, therefore...

When they caught up to me again, they were already that deep in conversation again that they didn't even see me! Lucky me, explaining to them why I was following them would have been awkward at best...

"... and have you heard the latest news about this pet Autobot Lord Megatron has? Not his new one, I mean the Prime."

"Yeah... One would've thought that after so much time, he would've stopped trying to escape..."

This sentence made me stop dead in my tracks. Optimus had tried to escape? Maybe this situation wasn't as hopeless as it might seem! At that thought, I couldn't stop a grin from forming on my faceplates. Optimus had not given up!

It was as if a giant weight had been lifted from me. Up to that point, I hadn't even realized how much it had been weighting me down to worry about Optimus. 20 eons were a long time, longer than I'd been alive... Or not?

Fraggit, this whole time problem was confusing, not to mention annoying!

But back to the important things: There was still hope (even for this fragged up future...)! For the first time, I really simply looked around. Honestly, it didn't seem that depressing to me anymore, at least, if I just disregarded the whole slavery-thingy for a moment. No ruins anymore, but tall, gleaming buildings, everything alight with color... through I suspected that THIS was more or less the Neutrals influence...

"Go on, you're blocking the way!", someone quite near shouted, jolting me out of my thoughts for the second time. I whirled around, only to see a huge (muddy brown) tank glaring at me. It took most of my self-control not to flinch away.

Holding my servos up defensively, I said: "I'm going..." It wasn't that I couldn't stand my own in a fight, it was just a matter of not attracting any sort of attention. Sometimes easier said than done.

After a short sprint, the tank quickly having lost sight of me due to my smaller size, I slowed down again, for a while simply following the crowd. After all, I still had a little orientation-problem. So I figured: Most of them were probably on their way into the center of the city anyways. I could simply follow them there, and do a little sight-seeing along the way...

It certainly proved to be interesting. Some of the buildings seemed quite old, too...

Waite a klik...! Old enough to be from before the end of the war?! I still had maps of the cities from that time! (Figures... after all, that's where, or when, I was from!) Maybe I didn't even need to be reliant on what I could find out from the crowd in that regard!

Breems upon breems of searching later, I finally found a building unique (and old) enough. Then, it was just a matter of finding the right map. Which didn't even take half that long.

However, I had to read over the results multiple times before it got through to me...

I was in Iacon!

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And Naria finally found out where she is...

Did you like it?

It's mostly a transitional chapter, I know...

Anyways...

See you in the next one!


	4. Research

Now that I knew, it was actually pretty obvious. They hadn't really changed the street layout, and quite a few of the buildings had just been repaired instead of knocked down and erected anew. And I had the suspicion that Megatrons palace would be in an even more familiar location... After all, which place would be better than the former Prime Palace?

While I thought about that, I neared the center of the city without even really noticing where I was going exactly.

Though I wasn't that surprised to find myself where the Iacon main base had been,when I finally got myself out of these thoughts, the place I'd spent most of my life in. Now, it was something altogether different. A history museum...

Well, that actually made sense. Here, where the Autobots had had their last base on Cybertron, they now taught Decepticon propaganda. Fitting... and incredibly insulting, which was probably the purpose.

Nonetheless, I was curious. How much actual history was there, and how much had been messed up, hidden or even destroyed? And, who knows, I might even find some records of what happened directly after I'd entered the SpaceBridge...

Upon entering the building, I had to actually suppress a flashback. I knew this room...

I shook my head, shuddering, trying to get myself out of it. There was nothing I could do, not here, not now, besides collecting information. Lingering in the past wouldn't help me, no, it would hinder me. Especially if someone saw me acting like that.

Sighing, I looked around for something like a room layout, but there was nothing in sight. Just a few data terminals and an information counter. That was where I headed. Maybe the femme there could help me.

Only when I already stood in front of her did I notice the collar around her neck, and how young she looked. Couldn't have been older than 18 eons at most. An Autobot, born into slavery most likely. Mentally, I cursed myself for not noticing earlier, but before I could think of what to do, whether to reveal myself or not, she noticed me.

"How can I help you?", she asked softly. When I didn't answer, still trying to decide, she added: "Would you like me to show you the way to a specific part of the exhibition?"

That finally shook me out of my thoughts, and I replied: "Yes. Where is the part on the end of the war?" I was careful not to sound too nice, having made my decision. There were most likely cameras around, and she didn't know me anyways. The risk was too high to expose myself.

While she sought a room plan, however, I wrote a short note, too small to be noticed or deciphered by any camera, which would tell her to call a specific comm.-number (on of Jazz's... but anonymous) and to ask about information on 'Shadow', and I signed with an Autobot symbol. The rest would be up to her.

Why I did that? Well, no time like the present for building up a network... I would need every help I could get, I could already tell that. If I wanted to succeed (though I didn't really know yet with what...), I had to have help.

I accepted the plan she gave me without a word of thanks, staying in character, but left the small note behind, in a place where she would undoubtedly find it soon, without immediately connecting it to me.

The part of the exhibition I'd been searching for was surprisingly easy to find now, and I soon lost myself in the information texts. As I'd expected, there were many mentions of how strong the Cons were, and how weak the Autobots had again proven to be. Near pure propaganda. But, surprisingly, there were a few useful infos scattered in there, as well...

As far as I could reconstruct, Megatron had had Soundwave fake some footage of me being held somewhere, but all rescue missions failed, since I wasn't really there. Surrender had happened when Megatron had threatened to kill me if they didn't give up. But it hadn't ended there: Shortly after the surrender, a body that looked like me had been constructed, and shown to everyone. After that, breaking their spirits seemed to have been easy...

After that, there was some completely made up story of how I'd been caught trying to assassinate some high ranking Cons, and executed for it. Woven through the whole tale were justifications for what had happened and explanations that this had been completely necessary to end the war in their favor.

It was certainly interesting and informative, but also sickening. Still, I went further, searching for information on the slavery the Autobots were now subjected to.

The area on that was even larger! My tanks churned with a mix of anger, disgust and other negative emotions, but I forced myself to keep looking, to keep reading. How dare they do this! I felt sick to my very core, but still committed everything useful I found to memory, willing myself to remember. Every detail, every small bit could be helpful.

When I left the room again, I had to stop and take a break to calm my swirling thoughts. It had been horrible, but it had nonetheless rid me of one of the thought I'd had before: Sure, the city didn't look that depressing anymore, but it was! The short moment of wonder I'd had earlier at how beautiful it was in comparison to the ruins from before was gone for good now. Right behind this facade, it was uglier than it had ever been.

Pit, they even used slave coding on some of the more rebellious slaves! Maybe that was what Jazz had meant when he'd said he couldn't promise anything... He'd probably been lucky, though. He was a singer and dancer in the club, and the standard slave coding they used would've taken the emotion right out of it, as far as I could tell.

Slowly, my thoughts on that matter turned to Optimus. From what I'd heard, he probably didn't have this coding, or was at least resisting it. However, my original decision still stood: I would get him out of there as fast as I could, and for that, a visit to Megatrons palace was in order.

Reinforced in my decisions, I left the museum without looking back even once. Now that I knew what had happened, it was time to leave the past behind and change the future. There would still be time to get back home when I was finished here...

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Did you like it?

Please give me some feedback...


	5. Megatrons palace

It was already evening, nearly dawn, when I arrived at the palace, which suited me just fine. In not even a joor, it would be dark, and therefore the perfect time to enter the palace unseen, given my black paintjob.

But even that time proved to be almost too long for my patience, so I kept myself busy. I observed the palace and its guards, made a mental plan of how to get in, and drank my evening energon in a small bar with nearly unobstructed view of the palace. The credits for that (along with a small surplus) were easily taken from a drunken mechs' subspace. I saw no wrong in it; he was a Decepticon.

One breem to full darkness.

I stood up, left a small tip on the table and exited the bar. The streets were nearly deserted now, but it was easy to blend in anyways.

A quarter breem to full darkness.

I went past the palace, or at least it would appear that way to the guards. In reality, I stopped just out of their field of view, waiting.

Darkness fell, and I made my move. Now that it was happening, my excitement had toned down, replaced by a feeling of clarity, and calmth. It was ridiculously easy to sneak past the guards at shift change. They'd gotten lax, weren't careful anymore. Well, eons of relative peace could do this to someone. I, in contrast, came directly from the war, and still had everything related to it, training, reflexes, and so on.

Inside the palace, I soon headed directly into the ventilation system, after making sure there were no traps, of course. But even when I had confirmed there were none, I still didn't allow myself to relax. After all, I had only gotten started. Now, I needed to find Optimus, and the best way to do so was probably to search for Megatron. From what I knew, he wouldn't let Optimus leave his sight for too long.

The most logical place to start searching was way higher up, where I knew the biggest rooms to be. One of these had to be the one Megatron chose for his private room. (Surprised I was thinking logically? I had to, or I'd be caught way too soon.) Careful to stay absolutely quiet, I started climbing through the ventilation shafts, pausing every few kliks to make sure no one heard me. I was flexible and fast enough, but progress was slow anyways.

Luckily, I had both a rough outline and an outdated layout of the building in my processor, which meant that I was able to reach the very top without any problems. But I wasn't going to get careless now, that would ruin everything. Instead, I crouched above a possible exit, waiting for someone to pass by so I could listen in on them and gain at least some more information. Going in completely blind wasn't exactly the plan, even though I was prepared for it, just in case.

A few mechs and femmes passed by, obviously guards, silent. No information there...

Just as I was about to give up and move to a different spot, however, two mechs came by. Both were quite young still, about my age, and they were collared. Autobots. One of them carried a cube of energon, surprisingly of a visibly low quality. For about a quarter of a klik, I entertained the thought of reveling myself to them, but ultimately settled on my first plan. It would've been too risky, even though I did need some inside help. Well, that was something for later...

Listening in on them, I couldn't quite suppress a grin. Jackpot! They'd lead me to Optimus, the energon was for him. At that, I had to keep a small surge of anger contained: That low quality stuff wouldn't even keep me energized between two meals, much less him, since I was way more energy efficient being a femme!

I kept calm, however, following them silently. Straight towards a small cell. The exit above it would really only be barely big enough for me, but it was at least not that difficult to open. The dimly glowing energon cube on the ground in front of the door was the only thing clearly visible, as it was pitch black inside, not a single bit of light. As a precaution, I sent out a scrambling signal, designed to interrupt cameras and bugs, and only then did I drop into the tiny cell, still silent.

Dimming the glow of the visor down to nothing (since it was red...), I whispered softly: _~Optimus? Are you here?~_ I deliberately used the ancient language of the Primes, which he'd been teaching me for all my life, since just about no one but us could understand it. There was a bit of movement in one of the corners, and blue optics lit up, just as dim as the visor I wore, but probably not intentionally. He'd been in stasis, or close to it.

 _~Naria?~_ , he replied softly, disbelieving. He sounded wary, doubtful, tired, as if he thought he'd just imagined my voice. I shot down my anger at that, only allowing calmness to color my words as I spoke again.

 _~Yes, it's me.~_ My voice cracked, even though I'd still wanted to say more, to explain it to him, how I could be here, I couldn't. The situation caught up to me, and before I knew what I was doing, I'd gone to him, throwing my arms around him in a hug as I held on for dear life. We stayed like this for a while, the familiarity of it very much comforting.

It was breems later that I finally remembered exactly where we were, and loosened my embrace a bit.

 _~You probably want to know about what really happened...~_ , I said, and, not waiting for an answer, continued: _~Remember when I went through the Space Bridge? For me, it's only been less than an orn...~_ I told him everything, in quiet, hushed tones, stopping more than once because someone passed by. When I was finished, he was silent for a while.

However, I wouldn't have the chance to ask for what he was thinking about. Just as I wanted to, we heard someone at the door. Shutting my mouth again (having already opened it for asking), I reluctantly, but quickly, stood up and jumped into the ventilation shaft again. While I closed the cover again, I secured a Comm. line to him, breaking through a few encryptions that had been in place, and promised: _::I'll come back, and I'll get you out of here.::_ Then I went completely still, just in time, too, because not even a klik later, light shining through the open door flooded the tiny cell...

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I'm not sure when the next one will come, but it might be some time until then...

Please keep reading it though!


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